Peruvian street food · Los Angeles
Bring Peru to Your Event. Lit by Fire. Plated for L.A.
Punku Catering turns your birthday, anniversary, or company night into the best Peruvian dinner your guests have ever had. Anticuchos sizzling on live fire. Hot emolientes in the cold. A full Peruvian story, delivered to your door.
Available across the Los Angeles area · Custom menus from intimate dinners to 50+ guests
What is Punku
Punku is the Quechua word for door.
That's exactly what we open at every event we cater. Punku Catering brings authentic Peruvian street food to private events across Los Angeles. We don't just drop off trays. We bring the robata grill, the smoke, the spice, and the warmth of a Peruvian street corner — straight into your backyard, your office rooftop, or your private dinner.
Real anticuchos. Real emolientes. Real Peruvian cooking, made by a Peruvian chef, served the way it's meant to be served: hot, generous, and unforgettable.
Perfect for
Built for the events where the food is the story.
Birthdays
Turn the night into a Lima street fair.
Anniversaries & milestones
Intimate, smoky, romantic.
Corporate events & office lunches
The easiest way to look like the most thoughtful host in the company.
Holiday & end-of-year parties
Warm, festive, and far from another taco bar.
Showers, graduations, quinceañeras
Family food, made for family moments.
Private dinners at home
Chef-driven, intimate, no reservation needed.
If your event has people, hunger, and a reason to celebrate — we have a menu for it.
The founder
Chef Pablo De la Cruz
Punku was created by Chef Pablo De la Cruz, the Peruvian chef whose vision gave the project its name, its fire, and its purpose.
Pablo built Punku around a single idea: that the most honest expression of Peru is not in its tasting menus, but in its sidewalks. In the anticuchera who lights her coals at sunset. In the emoliente seller who pours a hot herbal cup into your hands on a cold morning. In the smoke, the spice, the slow burn of the ají, and the bravery of the people who carry these traditions every single night.
"He brought that fire — quite literally, with a robata grill at the heart of the kitchen — to Los Angeles."
The inspiration
A love letter to the vendors who never wrote one for themselves.
In Lima, in Cusco, in every Peruvian plaza, the anticucheros brave heat, rain, and exhaustion to keep their craft alive — skewers of marinated meat over open flame, eaten with a potato in one hand and a paper napkin in the other. The emolienteros stand through cold dawns serving cups of medicinal herbs — a quiet, daily act of care for a whole country.
Pablo built Punku so they would have a stage in L.A. Catering became the most natural way to give them that stage: bringing the grill, the steam, and the story directly to the people who gather around your table.
Our purpose
To open a door — un punku — between Peruvian street food and every table in Los Angeles.
Not a fusion. Not a fine-dining reinterpretation. The real thing, cooked by people who learned it where it was born, brought to you with the same warmth you'd get from a vendor who has known your family for twenty years.
01
Honor
The anticucheros, emolienteros, and street cooks of Peru.
02
Translate
Their craft to Los Angeles without losing the smoke, the soul, or the spice.
03
Turn
Every event we cater into a celebration of that legacy.
Why Punku Catering
An event your guests will still be talking about next year.
Authentic Peruvian, by a Peruvian chef
Chef Pablo cooks the way his country cooks — not the way a menu consultant tells him to.
Live fire, on site
Our robata grill comes with us. Anticuchos are skewered, grilled, and served in front of your guests.
Built around the icons
Anticuchos. Emolientes. The Peruvian classics most of your guests have never tasted — and won't stop talking about.
A real experience
We bring the atmosphere of a Peruvian street corner: smoke, color, generosity, warmth. Not a tray drop-off.
Custom menus, any size
Intimate home dinners, corporate gatherings, large celebrations — we tailor menu, format, and staffing.
Hosts look like heroes
Choosing Punku is the easiest decision your event will make — and the one your guests will thank you for.
How it works
Simple, from first call to last bite.
1
Tell us about your event
Date, headcount, vibe, venue.
2
We design the menu
Built around our Peruvian street-food classics, tailored to your guests.
3
We bring the fire
Robata grill, anticuchos, emolientes, sides, sauces, service — handled.
4
You host
Your guests fall in love with Peru.
Ready to throw the event of the year?
Tell us the date and the headcount — we'll handle the rest.
Request a quote
Let's bring the fire to your event.
Share a few details and we'll come back with a custom menu and quote within 24 hours.